Senate Dems say banking regulator is unvetted, inexperienced

Seven Senate Banking Committee Democrats told Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Thursday that the recent shake-up of a federal bank regulation is a “political power grab.”

The senators wrote in a letter to Mnuchin that they were “deeply concerned” with his recent appointment of former Wall Street lawyer Keith Noreika to lead the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) without a Senate confirmation.

“You have chosen to replace the current head with an acting head who is unvetted, has obvious conflicts of interest, and lacks the experience to run [OCC],” wrote the senators.

The letter was signed by Banking Committee ranking member Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Bob Menendez (D-N.J.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.) Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Catherine Cortez Masto (Nev.).

Mnuchin appointed Noreika, who represented Wall Street banks as a lawyer at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett, to be the OCC’s first deputy earlier this month. Noreika’s appointment lined him up to lead the OCC, which oversees the U.S. banking system, once Trump ousted former chief Thomas Curry.

Trump removed Curry on May 5, making Noreika the interim OCC chief. His ascent is considered highly unusual, since Trump hasn’t nominated a replacement for Curry yet and the interim chief is usually a veteran staff member, not a special government employee.

Noreika is now poised to spend several months alongside Mnuchin and Trump’s economic team as they attempt to fulfill a promise to roll back financial regulations passed under President Obama.

The Banking Committee Democrats criticized Noreika’s background representing major banks and his unusual appointment.

“We see no reason to disrupt the agency’s operations by replacing a strong, independent leader like Comptroller Curry with an untested outsider who has not been confirmed by the Senate, wrote the Democrats.